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Regardless of the diverse research on big data analytics (BDA) across different supply chains, little attention has been paid to exploit this information across service supply chains. The healthcare supply chains, where supply chain operations consume the second highest expenditures, have not completely attained the potential gains from data analytics. So, this paper explores the challenges of BDA at various levels of healthcare supply chains.

Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), this research explores the various challenges of big data at organizational and operational level of different nodes in healthcare supply chains. To demonstrate the links among supply chain nodes, the authors have used a supplier-input-process-output-customer (SIPOC) chart to list healthcare suppliers, inputs (such as employees) supplied and used by the main healthcare processes, outputs (products and services) of these processes, and customers (patients and community).

Using thematic analysis, the authors were able to identify numerous challenges and commonalities among these challenges for the case of healthcare supply chains across United Arab Emirates (UAE). An applicable exploration on organizational (Socio-technical) and operational challenges to BDA can enable healthcare managers to acclimate efficient and effective strategies.

The identified common socio-technical and operational challenges could be verified, and their impacts on the sustainable performance of various supply chains should be explored using formal research methods.

This research advances the body of literature on BDA in healthcare supply chains in that (1) it presents a structured approach for exploring the challenges from various stakeholders of healthcare chain; (2) it presents the most common challenges of big data across the chain and finally (3) it uses the context of UAE where government is focusing on medical tourism in the coming years.

Originality of this work stems from the fact that most of the previous academic research in this area has focused on technology perspectives, a clear understanding of the managerial and strategic implications and challenges of big data is still missing in the literature.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Challenges match the potential benefits of big data analytics, and firms must evaluate their staff, infrastructure, and security before introducing the technology.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The case explores information technology (IT) company Mindtree’s journey of 20 years from the time it was founded in 1999 to be different from others, and how it became a target for acquisition by an Indian diversified conglomerate in 2019. It offers insights into developing organizational culture and values in an organization, threats faced by a company when promoters dilute their shareholding, and the strategies followed by the acquirer and the target firm. It also deals with the challenges in the acquisition of a knowledge service digital firm. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to: identify the circumstances under which a company can become a target for hostile takeover; describe motivations of the acquirer firm in an acquisition; distinguish between acquisition and hostile takeover, and discuss salient features of Securities and Exchange Board of India (substantial acquisition of shares and takeover) regulations, 2011; list the defenses a target firm can adopt to ward off hostile acquirer; explore strategies followed by acquirer and target firms; analyze important ingredients of organization culture, and importance of cultural congruence in an acquisition; and discuss challenges faced by an acquirer in India, namely, legal, retention of clients and key people in the target firm particularly in hostile environment.

The case explores how ten IT professionals founded mid-tier IT services company Mindtree in 1999 in Bengaluru, India (home to Infosys and Wipro) to be different from others – by inserting themselves at a higher level in the value chain, being philanthropic as a part of broader business strategy to attract a certain kind of employee and customer. It developed a culture of equality, consideration and respect. Its attrition rate of 12 to 13 per cent was significantly lower than the Industries. Mindtree crossed annual revenue of US$1bn for FY 2019 and was growing at twice the industry’s growth rate. The most attractive part was that its proportion of revenue from digital services was about 50 per cent as compared to 25-35 per cent of other services vendors. With time, the share of promoters/founders declined and increased one investor’s shareholding of V. G. Siddhartha and his related entities. In early March 2019, the promoters’ stake was 13.32 per cent while Siddhartha had 20.32 per cent. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) one of India’s conglomerate entered into a share purchase agreement on March 18, 2019 with Siddhartha to acquire his 20.32 per cent stake. Immediately, L&T asked its broker to purchase up to 15 per cent of share capital of Mindtree at a price not exceeding INR 980 per share (each share of face value INR 10). This would trigger an open offer by L&T to purchase additional 31 per cent shares of Mindtree. The action of hostile takeover bid by L&T evoked emotional criticism from Mindtree founders. Mindtree efforts to defend itself could not materialize. L&T’s stake crossed 26 per cent on May 16, 2019. After Indian regulator SEBI’s approval, L&T’s open offer to buy shares from Mindtree shareholders commenced on June 17, 2019. The case examines motivation of the acquirer firm particularly when it is a conglomerate, and how a well-performing company became a target for hostile takeover. It looks at vulnerabilities of a target firm, and defensive steps a firm can take to fence itself against such takeover. The case also explores how organizational culture is built in a people-oriented business, namely, digital services, and what role it plays in a merger of two firms.

The case is suited for postgraduate students of management, as well as those undergoing executive courses in management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Recent trends in material science show a considerable interest in the manufacturing of metal matrix composites to meet the stringent demands of lightweight, high strength and corrosion resistance. Aluminium is the popular matrix metal currently in vogue that can be reinforced with ceramic materials such as particulates to meet the desired property. The purpose of this paper is to fabricate hybrid metal matrix composites to improve the dry sliding wear resistance and to study of the effect of sliding speed, load and reinforcement (alumina and graphite) on wear properties, as well as its contact friction.

The present study addresses the dry sliding wear behaviour of Al‐Si10Mg alloy reinforced with 3, 6 and 9 wt% of alumina along with 3 wt% of graphite. Stir casting method was used to fabricate the composites. Mechanical properties such as hardness and tensile strength have been evaluated. A pin‐on‐disc wear test apparatus was used to evaluate the wear rate and coefficient of friction by varying the loads of 20, 30 and 40 N, sliding speeds of 1.5 m/s, 2.5 m/s and 3.5 m/s at a constant sliding distance of 2100 m.

Mechanical properties of hybrid metal matrix composites (HMMCs) have shown significant improvement. The wear rate and coefficient of friction for alloy and composites decreased with increase in sliding speed and increased with increase in applied load. Temperature rise during wearing process for monolithic alloy was larger than that of HMMCs and Al/9% Al₂O₃/3% Gr composite showing the minimum temperature rise.The worn surfaces of the composites were investigated using scanning electron microscope.

The paper shows that aluminium composites can improve strength and wear resistance.

HMMCs has proven to be useful in improving the dry sliding wear resistance.

The purpose of this study is to analyse and optimize the wear parameters of magnesium metal-metal composite. Materials with lesser weight attract both the researcher and industrialists, as it exhibits the performance improvement in the automotive and aerospace industries. The enrichment of mechanical and tribological properties of the existing magnesium focussed the development of new metal–metal composite.

Metal–metal composite with magnesium matrix was synthesized through the disintegrated melt deposition technique with the addition of titanium, aluminium and boron carbide particles. The wear performance of the composite was experimented with the dry sliding wear test by considering load, sliding velocity and sliding distance.

The wear rate of the composite is analysed statistically, and the significance of wear parameters on the wear performance of metal–metal composite is observed. The worn pin surface and the wear debris collected during the wear experiments were exposed to the microscopy analysis to seize the dominating wear mechanisms.

The wear performance of the developed magnesium composite was analysed and discussed in detail with the support of scientific evidence, i.e. worn surface and debris analysis express the wear mechanisms.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2019-0326/

The purpose of the paper is to study the dry sliding wear behavior of as-cast and heat-treated zinc-aluminum (ZA-27) alloy, reinforced with silicon carbide and graphite particles.

The alloy and composite samples were prepared with stir casting technique. Heat treatment was carried out for samples at a temperature of 370°C followed by quenching in water at room temperature. Subsequently, the heat-treated samples were aged at 180°C and quenched in water at room temperature. The wear tests were carried using pin-on-disc apparatus at room temperature at different applied loads, sliding speed and sliding distance.

The wear volume loss of as-cast samples was more compared with heat treated samples. Composites exhibited improved wear resistance than base alloy.

Hybrid metal matrix composites with heat treatment has exhibited superior wear behavior in dry sliding conditions.

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the wear behavior of developed aluminum hybrid composites under high-stress conditions through developed power law and quadratic equations.

The abrasive wear behavior of Al–Mg–Si (Al 6082) alloy reinforced with hard silicon carbide (SiC) and soft graphite (Gr) particulates fabricated by stir casting route was studied at loads of 5-15 N, sliding distance of 75 m and abrasive grit size of 100-200 μm. The power law and quadratic equations were developed to understand the wear behavior with respect to the load applied and the abrasive grit size. The worn surfaces of the test specimens and grit papers were examined under scanning electron microscope.

The density and hardness of the hybrid composites decreased when compared to Al–SiC composites, whereas the wear properties improved because of the presence of Gr. There was further improvement in the wear properties of the materials because of T6 heat treatment. The change in abrasive wear mechanism was observed at a grit size of 125 μm when traversed from alloy to hybrid composite as indicated in terms of exponents in the power law equation. The worn surfaces of hybrid composite pins were comparable with those of alloy pins.

In the automobile sector, components like cylinder liner, piston, crankshafts, brake drums, etc. also undergo abrasive wear along with sliding against the counter surface in working conditions.

The results prove that better wear resistance was obtained under the abrasion condition.

This paper aims to present a hybrid approach to measure the efficiency of virtual contact centers (VCCs) started during the pandemic and benchmark them for service performance. The results are used to plot the VCC's efficiency score (performance) and customer perception (Importance) to propose appropriate strategies.

Using the survey method, 854 responses were collected from customers who used VCC services during the pandemic. This data was then employed to assess the performance of VCCs using SERVPERF and DEA methods, followed by the development of the model for performance analysis.

Results reveal the ranking of different VCCs started during the pandemic for the telecom company using SERVPERF and DEA methods. Further, the performance analysis model highlighted the strategies appropriate for each VCCs.

The findings add to the body of knowledge on how multiple service units of a large organization can assess service efficiency utilizing a combination of SERVPERF-DEA. The present work also contributes to the performance analysis field by proposing a model to assess the service centers and provide improvement guidelines.

The work is one of the first to assess the service efficiency of the VCCs started during the pandemic by using a unique hybrid approach of SERVPERF and DEA. This approach provides a direction to whom to benchmark and to what degree service quality should be improved. Further, the study proposes a unique performance analysis model based on performance scores and customer perception.

COVID-19 is a global event affecting supply chain operations and human health. With COVID-19, many issues in business models, business processes and supply chains, especially in the manufacturing industry, have had to change. The ability to analyze supply chain performances and ensure circularity in supply chains has become one of the factors whose importance has increased rapidly with COVID-19. Therefore, it aims to determine which supply chain performance criteria come to the fore for the company under consideration to accelerate the transformation into high performance and circularity in supply chains.

In this study, a new circular-SCOR model is proposed, and 17 supply chain performance measurement criteria are prioritized for a manufacturing company in the context of circular economy principles during COVID-19 by using stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis and analytical hierarchy process method, separately.

As a result, for both methods, in the case study discussed, the demand fulfillment rate is determined as the most prominent criterion in line with the circular economy principles in the COVID-19 period in manufacturing supply chains.

It is expected that this study will contribute to managers and policy makers as it addresses the “new normal” that started after COVID-19 and the criteria to be considered in supply chain performance measurement and emphasizes the need to adopt circular supply chains, especially in manufacturing industries.